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Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 734
Posted: Mon 04 Jan 2010, 14:22
Post subject:
lameSMBxplorer v0.2.2 beta
Subject description: Samba/windows shares mount utility
Hmmm .....
lameSMBxplorer is a samba/windows shares mount utility written from scratch. So far, it has been tested against samba-3.0.37, samba-3.3.10, Win98, WinXP simple/protected shares and was also briefly tested against Win2003 server ...
As of today, the lameSMBxplorer utility (v0.1.8b/v0.2.0b) is still in beta but is surely approaching towards a stable status. All this was achieved with the help given and the feedbacks received from many of our helpful and knowledgeable forum members (you know who you are). I am grateful to you all ...
Beginning with v0.2.0 beta, a new add-on utility is introduced: lameSMBqmount for handling shares quickmounting and automounting. Development of the quickmounting prototype slowly began less than three weeks ago and it has been rewritten twice during this period. I'm pleased to be able to release the quickmounting add-on much earlier than expected ... I hope that this supporting add-on will be able to fulfill the gap for quick-n-easy samba mounting ...
The new add-on utility (lameSMBqmount) will now become the main development focus, while lameSMBxplorer will go through a few minor feature completion process (and also yet to be done, the hardest part, some sort of a proper documentation/manual) ... The next step that's being planned is to design and implement a simple and easy to use samba shares setup interface. Well, let's see how it goes ...
lameSMBxplorer usage notes:
1. Ensure that your network interface is appropriately configured.
2. Only reachable local subnets will be scanned.
3. The default mount username is guest with no password.
4. Global domain/username/password options will be used for scanning/mounting (if specified).
5. Global options will be auto saved.
6. Important: username/password is stored in plain text, if saved.
7. Single click to select server/machine.
8. Double click to select share mount.
9. Right button double click on shares to mount-n-explore.
lameSMBqmount usage notes:
1. No network scanning is performed (or even checked).
2. Field column descriptions from left to right:
automount status icon, IP/Server/Share details and current mount status.
3. Single-click to select a share to edit/delete/mount/unmount/explore.
4. Double-clicks on a share for a fast mount-n-explore in rox. Yes, individual credentials for each share will be used, if any.
5. Share entries can be added either a) manually or b) from lameSMBxplorer.
6. To manually add an entry, the compulsory fields are
IP address, Server name and Share name.
7. If a new entry is added to the list from lameSMBxplorer, it defaults to automount disabled.
8. All shares will be mounted to /mnt/nework/ base directory. If you need a custom path,
I suggest making a symlink from /mnt/network/* to your preferred location after mounting the share(s).
9. Important: Be aware that username/password is stored in plaintext.
10. To enable a share for automounting during startup, enable the "Automount on startup"
option in the edit dialog. Once enabled, it will be automounted on every startup.
How does automounting work?
1. Automounting (and auto-unmounting) is done by the /etc/init.d/rc.smbqmsvc script. The parameter file /etc/.lameSMQlist holds the list of all shares for automounting/quickmounting.
2. During bootups, the smbqmsvc script will wait for up to 120 seconds for an active network setup. If an active network is detected, it will attempt to mount any entry from the parameter file that is marked for automounting. A success/failure status will be reported in the error log (ie. /tmp/bootsysinit.log).
3. An option to delay the automounting by 30secs (reduced from 60secs) is provided in lameSMBqmount for cases where the network interface (ex: wifi) may need more time to settle.
4. Unmounting of shares is done differently. The rc.smbqmsvc script will find and unmount any CIFS mounts. That's right, any mounted cifs shares will be automatically unmounted on shutdowns.
5. Due to an oversight in the rc.shutdown script, auto unmounting of shares during shutdowns may result in a delay of up-to several minutes depending on the number of active shares to unmount. The reason is that the network interface(s) shutdowns before the unmounting process begins. There are two suggested remedies for this:
a) Enable the "Early unmount" checkbox option in lameSMBqmount. This option if enabled, will patch rc.shutdown to unmount all CIFS mounted shares much much earlier during shutdowns. Turning it off will remove the patch if it was applied previously. Please note that this option takes effect immediately.
b) Manually edit rc.shutdown and move the init.d script invocation before rc.network stop is called (or move rc.network stop after init.d invocation). If this is done, the "Early unmount" checkbox option in 5a) will be disabled.
Bug fix: exclude localhost route and corrected netmask parser logic
2922 Time(s)
Bug fix : exclude lo device route for automounting
1915 Time(s)
Bug fixes for two (2) recently reported issues.
1593 Time(s)
Last edited by Patriot on Fri 06 Aug 2010, 06:13; edited 14 times in total
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Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 734
Posted: Mon 04 Jan 2010, 14:25
Post subject:
here be dragons
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Joined: 08 Apr 2007
Posts: 259
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 03:21
Post subject:
Hi Patriot, nice app...I tried it at work, we have windows server 2003, your program sees the servers, but it fails connecting to all of them... pnethood does the same, its log says "cli_nt_create failed on pipe \srvsvc to machine name_of_machine. Error was NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED". I suppose it has something to do with windows server proprietary protection system...btw old linneighbourhood succeeded in connecting to the servers.
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Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 734
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 06:21
Post subject:
Hmmm .....
eden6000 wrote:
Hi Patriot, nice app...I tried it at work, we have windows server 2003, your program sees the servers, but it fails .....
Thanks for the feedback eden6000, much appreciated ...
I believe that we need to supply more options to properly connect to win2003 ... Adding advanced option entries can be done quite easily but the actual connection usage needs a bit of understanding ... If possible, could you let me know which are the options you used with linneighborhood (workgroup, uid, gid, fmask, dmask, username, password, port etc) ? ... In the meantime, I'll see if I can find a win server somewhere as it would be a whole lot easier to make further tests with one ....
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Joined: 08 Apr 2007
Posts: 259
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 07:20
Post subject:
Ok, I rebooted into Pizzapup, which uses Linneighborhood, so I try to answer your question...in the preferences window there is no particular setting, apart from the username and the password you use to log into the servers; so I started logging on, and I can tell you what it does:
when scanning the network it says:
GetSMBGroups:nmblookup -M domain_name -S -d1
GetSMBGroups:smbclient -L username -W domain_name -Uusername%password -d1
Then, when scanning a single server:
GetSMBShare:smbclient -L server_name -Uusername%password -W domain_name -d3
Finally, when mounting a share:
smbmount//server_name/path /mount_directory -o username=user_name%password,fmask=644,dmask=755,uid=0,gid=0,debug=0,workgroup=domain_name
Hope that helps.....
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Joined: 26 May 2006
Posts: 2946
Location: Southampton, UK
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 10:05
Post subject:
Very nice.
I'm glad you are developing a better alternative to pnethood I was feeling guilty for not maintaining it. I will give you all the testing and debugging help I can. I don't have a Win2003 box unfortunately.
I am sure that you have a good plan for further development but a few things that you might consider are:
1. The shares reported by some servers depend on the user credentials supplied by smbclient.
2. If your design will allow the removal of nmblookup and obviously smbmount is no longer needed. You might consider a design that will work without smbclient as well. If this is not present and the user clicks on a server you could give them the option to enter a share name. This would definitely impact usability but removing these would save over 1Mb of compressed space in the iso. (I am not sure if some of these are needed for printing)
3. If I enter bad credentials the mountpoint is not always deleted. This has caused problems in the past when someone has written loads to what they thought was a share but was really inside their pup_save. ( I do appreciate that your mount dialog will not let them view an unused mountpoint)
4. I can't mount two shares at the same time. The problem is a typo in the ShareName variable.
mountchk=$($imount | grep -c "/mnt/network/$nbtName/$shrName")
Also this will not work properly if I have two shares named PublicRO and PublicRW
5. My gtkdialog understanding is not the best but I think that you are running smbclient on all the servers before displaying the main window , pnethood does this as well but I do not think it is a good idea. Some servers can be very slow to respond. It might be better just to do it when they try to open an individual server or run it in the background.
6. It would good to be able to see the mount status of shares alongside their names.
7. The "done" scanning window is hidden behind the main one
8. I was working on an inheritable options system for pnethood that would allow you to set options at global, server and share level.
Keep up the good work.
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Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 6629
Location: Valåmoen, Norway
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 10:26
Post subject:
Stardust resources
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Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 6629
Location: Valåmoen, Norway
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 10:29
Post subject:
Can I replace pnethood with lameSMBxplorer for Puppy Stardust ?
Stardust resources
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Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 11249
Location: Ontario Canada,Sydney Australia
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 11:14
Post subject:
zigbert wrote:
Can I replace pnethood with lameSMBxplorer for Puppy Stardust ?
lameSMBxplorer looks like it has a lot of potential
but its in early years and wouldn't surpass pnethood yet, from the readings and images, it looks like it doesn't support username or passwords either, where as Pnethood does, That would be a large security hole. Open shares on windows is ok if you don't have the internet or wireless, lol Well a good configured firewall would help
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Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 11249
Location: Ontario Canada,Sydney Australia
Posted: Tue 05 Jan 2010, 11:15
Post subject:
HairyWill wrote:
Keep up the good work.
Nice to see you around HairyWill, hope life is good
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Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 734
Posted: Wed 06 Jan 2010, 06:09
Post subject:
Hmmm .....
eden6000 wrote:
smbmount//server_name/path /mount_directory -o username=user_name%password,fmask=644,dmask=755,uid=0,gid=0,debug=0,workgroup=domain_name
Hope that helps.....
Thanks eden6000, it sure did helped me understand a bit better ... I've added the domain entry and the additional file modes (for now, hardcoded for mounting). If you could avail yourself to give this another test run, I'd be interested to know if the domain entry helped with the connection ... If it doesn't, then I'll definitely will have to find a win server somewhere ...
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Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 734
Posted: Wed 06 Jan 2010, 06:27
Post subject:
Hmmm ...
Your help and support is always welcomed ...
My comments to each point that you highlighted earlier :
A1. Yes, I'm quite aware of that. I'm looking into it, reading some more and wanting to understand in which cases this happens. Now, temporarily implemented as global user/passwd.
A2. I'm in favour of having smbclient preserved for two reasons, i) cli fallback/diagnostics when all else fails ii) I would like to see dynamic shares listing. I've given it a bit more thought and I'll try to find a way to get the browse list by some other means, if possible ...
A3. Yes, I experienced it myself once before
A4. Good catch! It is a typo, bummer ... It's now fixed and improved so that PublicRO and PublicROX will also be grep'ed correctly. Thanks Will ...
A5. Yes, you're correct, there're two scan levels, i) find servername(s) ii) find sharename(s) ... servernames are returned quite promptly but returning shares/resources as I understand it, is usually done by Local Master Browser (LMB) or backup Browser (bB) nodes ... in this case, we make the request directly to the required server and this may result in the request being pushed around to LMB/bB nodes (if any), thus the delay ... I would have liked to use smbtree queries (seems more reliable) but since that's not in the standard iso, I'll make do with smbclient.
I understand what you meant by smbclient queries delay. It bugs me too but we have to make a bit of trade-offs and so, I would prefer a single slow scan rather than having to scan each server with each click ...
I did a bit of reading on DMB, LMB and bB before this to try and understand what happens behind the scene. It seems that there's no easy way of getting instant browse list without some sort of caching ... I'm experimenting a bit to see if its possible to cache the browse list (ie. something similar to windows behaviour) for quick retrieval but right now it doesn't seem to be resource friendly if users does not require such functionality.
Please correct me if any of my understanding above is flawed ... I'm no smb expert ...
A6. Agreed, but it would make gtkdialog status updates a bit more complex than it already is ... I'll KIV it for now ...
A7. Was unable to duplicate (with puppy412). Kindly elaborate briefly (ie. was there many shares to scan?) and I'll run more tests and hope to sort it out a.s.a.p.
A8. Haven't thought this far yet but I'm open to any suggestions ...
Thanks HairyWill for your feedback and input, they're much much appreciated ...
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Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 734
Posted: Wed 06 Jan 2010, 06:47
Post subject:
Hmmm .....
zigbert wrote:
Can I replace pnethood with lameSMBxplorer for Puppy Stardust ?
Sure you can ... on one condition, you must try it out and feel good about it ...
Maybe you may want to let it grow up a bit for a week or two (at least) so that we can iron out most connection issues, though I'm pretty sure I get it right with Samba/W98/WXP connections by now ...
I'm also looking for suitable icons ... any recommendations zigbert?
ttuuxxx wrote:
..... it looks like it doesn't support username or passwords either .....
Actually, it does ttuuxxx. Their entries can be made right before making a shared connection ...
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Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 11249
Location: Ontario Canada,Sydney Australia
Posted: Wed 06 Jan 2010, 06:55
Post subject:
Patriot wrote:
ttuuxxx wrote:
..... it looks like it doesn't support username or passwords either .....
Actually, it does ttuuxxx. Their entries can be made right before making a shared connection ...
well then its at a much better level that I figured
does it remember the user name and passwords?
If so maybe some sort of stored password encryption might be better.
Also maybe a puppy shares might be nice
Like if you have 2 puppy pc's running and when you install lameSMBxplorer it makes a /root/My-Shares folder that is automatically shared with other puppy pc's on the network.
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Joined: 08 Apr 2007
Posts: 259
Posted: Thu 07 Jan 2010, 03:11
Post subject:
Patriot, I've tried your new pet, I've inserted username and password (although I suggest you do something to make it remember them), but nothing happens the same
. So I started it from terminal, and after regularly scanning the network, when I click on a server the only thing it does is "LookUpShares:192.168.x.x"
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text:
Additionally I included results for x4500 (Thumper) for comparison.
Before I go to the results some explaination of system names in graphs is needed.
x4100 HW - hardware RAID as described above, pci-max-read-request=2048 set in qlc.conf
x4100 SW - software RAID as described above
x4100 SW/Q - software RAID as described above, pci-max-read-request=2048 set in qlc.conf
x4500 - software RAID-10 pool made of 44 7200k 500GB disks (+2 hotspares +2 root disk)
As you'll see across all results, setting pci-max-read-request=2048 helps to boost results.
Also please notice that doing RAID-10 completely in software means that host has to write twice as much data to the array as when doing RAID-10 on the array. If enough disks are used and the array itself is not a bottleneck then we'll saturate links meaning we should get about half application streaming write performance with software RAID. In real life when your application doesn't issue as much writes it won't be a problem. Of course we're talking only about writes.
Keep in mind that workload parameters were such so actual workload was much larger that server's installed memory to minimaze file system caching.
We can observe it in first graph - HW RAID gives about 450MB/s for sequential writes and software RAID gives about 270MBs which is ~60%. Sequential reading on the other hand is a little bit better with software RAID.
1. iozone -b iozone-1.wks -R -e -s 2g -t 32 -M -r 128k -f /f5-1/test/i1
zfs set atime=off, recordsize=128k (default)
Notice how good x4500 platform is for sequential reading/writing (locally of course, you won't be able to push it thru network). Additionally if you calculate total storage capacity and price x4500 is a winner here without any doubt by a very long margin.
Now lets see what results we will get with more common mixed workload - lots of files, 32 threads reading, writing, creating, deleting files, etc.
2. filebench - varmail workload, nfiles=100000, nthreads=32, meandirwidth=10000, meaniosize=16384, run 600
zfs set atime=off, recordsize=128k (default)
ZFS software RAID turned out to be the fastest by a low margin. This time x4500 is about 30% slower which is actually quite impressive (44x 7200k SATA disks vs. 40x 15000k FC disks).
I haven't been using IOzone much in a past so I thought it might be a good idea to try it.
3. iozone -b iozone-1.wks -R -e -s 2g -t 32 -M -r 16k -f /f5-1/test/i1
zfs set atime=off, recordsize=128k (default)
Well x4500 is too good in above benchmark - I mean it looks like IOzone isn't issuing as random workload as one might have expected. Software RAID results are also too optimistic. Part of the problem could be that IOzone creates only a few files but large ones. It behaves more like database than file server. It is especially important with ZFS. So let's see what will happen if we match ZFS's recordsize to IOzone redord size.
4. iozone -b iozone-1.wks -R -e -s 2g -t 32 -M -r 16k -f /f5-1/test/i1
zfs set atime=off, recordsize=16k
Now we get much better throughput across all tests. It shows how important it is to match ZFS's recordsize to db record size in database environments. I was expecting writes to give less throughput with software RAID. Little bit unexpected is how much better results I get with stride reads. This time x4500's results are as expected - worst perfromer on reads, and great numbers on writes (this is due to ZFS which transforms most random writes to sequential writes which is very good for x4500 as we've seen in the first graph).
Lets see what happens if we increase both IOzone record size and ZFS record size to 128k.
5. iozone -b iozone-1.wks -R -e -s 2g -t 32 -M -r 128k -f /f5-1/test/i1
zfs set atime=off, recordsize=128k (default)
It helped a lot as expected. Software RAID-10 was able to practically saturate both FC links.
Increasing block size was also very good for x4500's SATA disks which will excell in sequential reading/writing.
In all IOzone "Random mix" tests we observer x4500 to perform too good - it means that there're probably much more random writes than reads and due to ZFS's transorming random writes into sequential writes we got such good results. But it's a good result for ZFS - as it means that thanks to ZFS being much less dependend on seek time for random writes we can get some great performance characteristics out of SATA disks.
I belive that if I would have been able to directly connect disks as JBOD to the host entirely eliminating Clariion's storage processors I should have been get even better results especially in terms of random read/write IOPS. Under heave load all those storage processors are actually doing is to introduce some additional latency.
In different workloads, especially when you write from time to time and you're not saturating your disks nor an array cache you can potentially benefit from large non-voatile caches in an array. But then with sporadical writes you won't probably notice anyway. In most environments you won't notice an array read cache - you've got probably more memory in your server (or it's much cheaper to add memory to a server than to an array) or your active data set is so much bigger than any array cache size that it really doesn't matter if you have the cache or not.
When you think about it - most entry-level and mid-range arrays are just x86 servers inside. CX3-40 is a 2x 2.8GHz Xeon server...
See also my previous similar tests here, here and here.
So the question is - if you need a dedicated storage for a given workload does it make sense to buy mid-range arrays with storage processors, caches, etc.? Or maybe it's not only cheaper but also better in terms of raw perfromance to buy an FC, SAS, SATA (?) JBODS? I'm serious.
As it looks like in many workloads HW RAID will in real life give you less performance for higher price... but you get all the other features, right? Well, you get clones, snapshots... but you get them buit-in with ZFS and for most workloads ZFS clones and snapshots not only will give much better performance but won't need dedicated disks. Then management is much more easier with ZFS than with arrays - especially when you think about different software to manage arrays from different vendors. With ZFS it's all the same - just give it disks... Then ZFS is open source, is already ported to FreeBSD, is being ported to OS X and is for free. When was last time you had to call for EMC to reconfigure your array and yet pay for it?
Some people are concerned about enough bus bandwith when doing SW RAID. First it's not an issue for RAID-5, RAID-6 and RAID-0 as you have put through about the same volume of data regardless of when RAID is actually done. Then look at modern x86,x64 or RISC servers, even low-end ones and see how much IO bandwith they have and compare it to your actual environment. In most cases you don't have to worry about it. It was a problem 10-15 years ago, not now.
When doing RAID in ZFS you've also get end-to-end checksumming and self-healing for all of your data.
Now there're workloads when HW RAID actually makes sense. First RAID-5 for random reads workload will generally work better on the array than RAID-Z. But still it's worth considering to just buy more disks in a JBOD then spending all the money on an array.
There're also some features like remote synchronous replication which some arrays do offer and in some environments its needed.
The real issue with ZFS right now is its hot spare support and disk failure recovery. Right now it's barely working and it's nothing like you are accustomed to in arrays. It's being worked on right now by ZFS team so I expect it to quickly improve. But right now if you are afraid of disk failures and you can't afford any downtimes due to disk failure you should go with HW RAID and possibly with ZFS as a file system. In such a scenario I also encourage to expose to ZFS at least 3 luns made of different disks/raid groups and do dynamic striping in ZFS - that way ZFS's meta data will be protected.
The other problem is that it is hard to find a good JBODs, especially from tier-1 vendors.
Then it's harder to find large JBODs (in terms of # of disks). Would be really nice to be able to buy SAS/SATA JBOD with ability to add many expansion units, with 4-8 ports to servers, supported in a cluster configs, etc. Maybe a JBOD with SAS 2,5" disks packed similar to x4500 - this would give enourmous IOPS/CAPACITY per 1U...
ps. and remember - even with ZFS there's no one hammer...
HW details:
System : Solaris 10 11/06 (kernel Generic_125101-04)
Server : x4100M2 2xOpteron 2218 2.6GHz dual-core, 16GB RAM, dual ported 4Gb Qlogic HBA
Array : Clariion CX3-40, 73GB 15K 4Gb disks
X4500 : 500GB 7200K, 2x Opteron 285 (2.6GHz dual-core), 16GB RAM

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"My kids' table manners are atrocious. They get up and down during the meal, grab food across the table, and complain about my cooking. Any ideas?"
Mealtime should nourish both the body and the soul. Too many families forget this and turn mealtime into a nightmare of corrections, nagging, threats, fighting, and individual grandstanding. Parental concern for healthy children can become out of proportion around the subject of food, especially since many of us have our own hang-ups about weight, looks, and diet. We try to be good parents by making sure our children eat properly. Quite often, instead of providing healthy choices and trusting our kids to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are not, we interfere in this natural process. Without knowing it, we can plant the seeds for eating disorders. We are most effective when we encourage children to listen to their bodies' clues and trust themselves to eat appropriately.
1. If kids know it's okay to eat what they eat and leave what they leave, they are less apt to complain. Do not insist on children eating everything on their plates or tasting every food. Avoid potential eating disorders by turning eating over to the child.
2. It is normal for young children to play with their food, spill their milk, and drop food on the floor. Behavior appropriate for their ages is not misbehavior. Clean up spills, let kids finger-paint in their food, and get a dog to eat what drops. If you don't want a dog, put a plastic sheet under a young child's place.
3. Some families allow children to make themselves a sandwich if they don't like the meal. Do not cook special dishes for each child.
4. Let your kids serve themselves and do not discuss what they eat or don't eat. Simply clear their plates at the end of the meal (ten to fifteen minutes is plenty of time).
5. If kids complain about your cooking, tell them it's okay not to eat what they don't like, but it hurts the chef when people complain. With a young child, when he says, "I don't like this," remove his plate and say, "Okay, you don't have to eat it." That usually ends the complaining very quickly.
6. Do not eat in front of the television. Adults should sit down and eat with the kids. Set the table with flowers, candles, or place mats, or eat in the dining room to create a special experience for the family.
7. If you think your children's behavior has become too obnoxious, you might try deciding what you will do instead of trying to control your children. Pick up your plate and go to another room to eat.
8. Another possibility is to ignore the behavior. Many children stop obnoxious behavior when it doesn't get a rise out of their parents.
9. If your child decides to become a vegetarian or wants to try out any other health-conscious new way of eating, ask your child how you can be supportive. Don't make fun of your child or insist he or she eat the way you do or treat the new habit as an eating disorder. Many vegetarians made the decision to change their eating as very young children. If you are a vegetarian and your child insists on eating meat, the same advice applies. Do not force your way of eating on your children.
1. One of the best ways to prevent or stop a potentially damaging pattern is to avoid interfering with your children's eating. That includes putting them on diets, nagging, criticizing, or taking them to clinics and doctors without their agreement.
2. Look at your own attitudes about weight, food, and eating patterns and what they may be suggesting to your children. Are you saying things like "Finish everything on your plate" and then later getting upset because your child is overweight? Do you tell your kids they can't eat between meals, which may encourage them to binge at mealtimes? Consider other ways in which you are unconsciously trying to control your child's food intake.
3. When children complain about the food, it may be time to involve them in choosing what they eat, at least one night a week. Let each child cook dinner one night a week. Even small kids can cook hot dogs, open a can of beans, and make a simple salad.
4. Plan with kids what they can do to contribute. Talk about the different jobs that need to be done, such as setting the table, cooking dinner, washing the dishes, and feeding the pets.
5. Stress that mealtime is a time to share stories about the day, visit with each other, and share the good feelings of being together as a family.
6. Practice good table manners at a time other than mealtime. Kids love to role-play. Pretend you are having a party and invite your children and all their stuffed animals. Set the table with a snack. Ask the kids for their ideas as to what constitutes bad table manners. Give a limited choice of what will happen when bad table manners occur: either the stuffed animal's plate is removed or the animal is removed from the table and can eat again at the next snack party. Demonstrate follow-through with the stuffed animals, so the children can see ahead of time what will happen.
7. Choose one night a week to practice table manners. Make it fun. Invite everyone to exaggerate, saying, "Pleeeeease pass the butter." Make a game of getting points for catching others with their elbows on the table, talking with their mouths full, interrupting others, complaining, or reaching across the table. The one with the most points gets to choose the after-dinner game.
8. Schedule your meals and don't make children wait until they are overly hungry to eat. If you have snacks in the family, limit snacks to certain times of day or keep fresh fruit and vegetables cut up in the fridge for those who like to eat less more often.
9. During a family meeting, get the whole family involved in planning ways to make mealtime enjoyable for everyone.
Children can learn that they are not going to get in trouble at the table, so they don't have to sidetrack their parents with bad manners. The table is a fun place to be, and there are many positive ways to get attention by joining in and being part of the family.
1. If parents worry less about manners and more about creating a positive experience for family members, kids will quickly learn that meals are times when everyone wants to be together, and table manners will take care of themselves.
2. You can help your child learn to listen to his or her feelings and body wisdom instead of training the child to be an overeater to please you or a picky eater to defeat you. Think of how many overweight adults were members of the "Clean Plate Club" as children and have completely lost touch with the meaning of the word "hungry."
3. If you see mealtime as a time to make kids eat and to lecture about manners, the kids will probably pay you back with bad manners. If your attitude is that meals are one of the special times that families can share together, the kids probably reflect that thinking.
Bonnie married a widower with six children. The oldest was eight years old, and the youngest were two-year-old twins. The mother of these children had died in childbirth when the twins were born. You can imagine how difficult it was to find a babysitter for six children, including baby twins. Even those who were desperate for a job did not stay long, so the children had not had the stability of consistent discipline before Bonnie became their new mother. This was especially evident during mealtime, which was a terrible ordeal because the children would fight, argue, and throw food at each other.
Bonnie had taught Adlerian/Dreikursian principles before she had a chance to practice them. Now she had her chance.
The first thing Bonnie did was hold a family meeting. She did not even discuss their mealtime behavior. She simply asked them to decide how much time they needed to eat their food after it was on the table. They talked it over and decided fifteen minutes was plenty of time. (They forgot to consider how much time it takes to fight, argue, and throw food.) They all willingly agreed to a family rule that dinner would be served at 6:00 p.m. and the table cleared at 6:15.
The next evening Bonnie and her husband ignored the fighting while they ate their food. (I know how difficult this is for parents to do.) At 6:15 Bonnie cleared the table. The children protested that they were still hungry and were not through eating. Bonnie kindly and firmly replied, "I am just following the rule we agreed on. I am sure you can make it until breakfast." She then sat in front of the refrigerator with a novel and earplugs for the rest of the evening.
The next night was a repeat of the previous night as the children tested to see if their new mother was for real. By the third night they knew she was, and they were so busy eating that they did not have time to fight, argue, or throw food.
There is a lovely sequel to this story. Six years later, I had the opportunity to stay with these children while their parents took a weekend vacation. They were so responsible and capable that I did not lift a finger the whole weekend.
The children prepared all the meals and did their chores without any interference from me. They showed me their meal and chore plan. They planned all their menus for a month during the first family meeting of the month. They all had a night to cook, except Mom (who did all the shopping) and the oldest boy (who had football practice).
I asked them if things always ran so smoothly. One of the girls told me that they used to have a rule that whoever cooked did not clean the kitchen. This caused problems because those who had the cleanup chore always complained about the messy cooks. They decided to change the rule so that the cook also cleaned the kitchen. This solved the complaints and gave everyone a longer break before it was their turn again. 1
1 From Jane Nelsen, Positive Discipline (New York: Ballantine, 1996), 192.
These articles are an excerpt from the book Positive Discipline A-Z by Jane Nelsen, Lynn Lott and H. Stephen Glenn. If you are interested in learning more about the book or authors, please visit
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This video has been around for a while. Never mind; if it doesn't bring you close to tears, you'd better go to the Heart Doctor for a spiritual check-up!
Here were between 100 and 200 horses, caught in a flood, stranded on a tiny island.
Some 18 had already died from exhaustion, exposure, and drowning. Four brave young women had the idea to ride out to the island and see if the horses would follow their own horses and swim to safety. And they did. But would they all make it safely?
It reminds me of what God in Christ did for us. At great peril and cost to Himself, Christ came to where we were, in hell, to lead all the captives out of there and lead us to the land of the living and reclaim us for His own. Watch and be amazed. Watch and be inspired. Watch and weep for joy! Be sure to have your speakers on!
Check out this video: Horse Rescue Netherlands
P.S. And while you're at it, check out this video of an elephant painting a self-portrait (really!) Hat tips to Pastors Randy Asburry and Larry Beane.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Amazing Rescue of Nearly 200 Horses
This video has been around for a while. Never mind; if it doesn't bring you close to tears, you'd better go to the Heart Doctor for a spiritual check-up!
1 comments:
- Unknown said...
Your post seems to be interesting..:)
It would be great to educate people and explain that breeding isn't for everyone. Because of the excessive amounts of breeding 93% of the 100,000
horses being slaughtered every year are perfectly healthy, but the truth is the United States is over populated with Equine animals.
- April 16, 2008 at 1:21 AM


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|Japan Boyz
Click here to visit site
|Short review: Its all about cute young, 18+ Japanese twinkies and jocks at this internet site that holds a load of original content. It has been going a long time, its looking better than ever, there are vids to stream and download, a top-model index, bonus DVDs and bonus internet-sites too, and the monetary value is set at a good rate. These scenes stay on the Japanese theme, the internet-site keeps its preview promises and you have good value.


text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - November Draw Club: Showdown Log in to check your private messages Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Archive : Sep99 - Dec00 View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "November Draw Club: Showdown" sacreliciousmemberMember #Joined: 27 Oct 2000Posts: 1072Location: Isla Vista, CA Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2000 1:56 pm Just looking over the whole thread, really good work everybody! kaylon- that picture rocks the house! Capn- Orange has the advantage of numbers, but yellow is a crafty bastard. ------------------ mmm... sacrelicious Back to top EnaylamemberMember #Joined: 26 Nov 2000Posts: 1217Location: Sweden Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2000 2:47 pm Yeah, I know I'm probably too late... but what the hey... I'll give it a try. Just because I think she's cute :P ------------------ ··No, don't let them take me down there·· Back to top RIpsTerjunior memberMember #Joined: 24 Nov 2000Posts: 9 Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2000 3:18 pm HeHe new to the Draw Club but if you have to reserve a spot heres mine. ------------------ See my hompage http://playerproductions.virtualave.net Back to top RIpsTerjunior memberMember #Joined: 24 Nov 2000Posts: 9 Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2000 3:20 pm HaHa I'm too late I guess I'm a month Behind Back to top sacreliciousmemberMember #Joined: 27 Oct 2000Posts: 1072Location: Isla Vista, CA Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2000 7:04 pm You're not late as long as you get it in before the next Draw Club. And you don't have to reserve space, that's just something some of us dummies (i.e. me) did for whatever reason. Welcome aboard, by the way. ------------------ mmm... sacrelicious Back to top LeoDeBruynGuestMember # Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2000 8:11 pm Here it be. My first image, and still half-finished since I am so busy. I hope i can spend more time soon on my digital artwork. This forum rocks!! ------------------ --Leo "OhIsee!" www.harandra.net/leo Back to top mickememberMember #Joined: 19 Jan 2000Posts: 1666Location: Oslo/Norway Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2000 8:52 am Man against primitives.. I know it sucks, but atleast i contributed, hehe. ------------------ -Mikael Noguchi- Mikael's artwork Back to top WildMythmemberMember #Joined: 05 Jun 2000Posts: 86Location: San Diego, CA, USA Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2000 10:51 am Not quite finished. Heck....:P Thanx for the complement Jezebel glad someone likes it =D [This message has been edited by WildMyth (edited December 22, 2000).] Back to top JezebelmemberMember #Joined: 02 Nov 2000Posts: 1940Location: Mesquite, TX, US Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2000 11:30 am VERY cool WildMyth!!!! I love that! ------------------ Take off your clothes. It's OK - I'm an artist. [url=http://div.dyndns.org/FOO!]http://div.dyndns.org/FOO![/url] Back to top FrostmemberMember #Joined: 12 Jan 2000Posts: 2662Location: Montréal, Canada Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2000 8:40 am Hehe Micke! Back to top Flexible ElfmemberMember #Joined: 01 Aug 2000Posts: 642Location: Parker, CO Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2000 6:53 pm I was thinking about doing something Sci-Fi for once but I had this idea and it fought its way through my Wacom pen. -Flexible Elf ------------------ http://www.geocities.com/flexible_elf/Main.html Back to top PuckDewdmemberMember #Joined: 30 Mar 2000Posts: 194Location: Boston,MA Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2000 4:26 pm Decided to take this "showdown" topic into a different direction... Full size is here (fair warning it's big) -Puck ------------------ Electric Synapse Back to top AwetopsymemberMember #Joined: 04 Oct 2000Posts: 3028Location: Kelowna Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2000 1:59 pm i started a new thread for my contribution cuz I wanted crits... but I put it here. too. or http://geocities.com/awetopsy/tutimag/showdown.jpg ------------------ I think Im wearing out my CTRL-'z' http://noelsart.cjb.net Back to top agent44memberMember #Joined: 07 Sep 2000Posts: 473Location: glendale, CA Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2000 9:06 am Back to top TylerHuntermemberMember #Joined: 06 Dec 2000Posts: 52Location: Savannah, GA, USA Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2000 5:31 pm Well this is a bit late.. but I just popped up on the forum.. Tell me what everyone thinks. This would make it my 2nd digital painting. A little quicker then the last one. Still done with a mouse. kEEPING IT REAL! Tyler Back to top MrHiemeyGuestMember # Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2000 6:21 pm Is this going on throughout december? ------------------ -dave- [This message has been edited by MrHiemey (edited December 07, 2000).] Back to top DhabihAdministratorMember #Joined: 13 Sep 1999Posts: 532Location: Kirkland, WA, U.S.A. Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2000 9:43 pm Yes, no December draw club. Next Drawclub starts January 1st Back to top Messiahjunior memberMember #Joined: 22 Nov 2000Posts: 13Location: San Jose, CA, USA Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2000 12:23 am Well if it's my first night I have to draw... or something like that. This is half res and the streaks in the sky are supposed to be incoming warheads. Unfortunately they just look like streaks. A mushroom cloud in the right horizon would clear things up, but might also overdo it a bit. [This message has been edited by Messiah (edited December 08, 2000).] Back to top kimzollmemberMember #Joined: 27 Nov 2000Posts: 184Location: copenhagen , denmark Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2000 8:12 am heres my contribution the the drawclub Kim Zoll Back to top SporQmemberMember #Joined: 22 Sep 2000Posts: 639Location: Columbus, Ohio Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2000 12:22 am gotta love it when they extend deadlines. i usually dont do stuff this cheesy ===Dusk=== SporQ Back to top burn0utmemberMember #Joined: 18 Apr 2000Posts: 1645Location: california Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2000 5:46 pm Nothing special, i was goina wait untell i get a tablet (the 25th :P) but i thought it would be a good thing to contribute to the fourm today!! ------------------ -stephen Trial n Error. Back to top sheriftariqjunior memberMember #Joined: 16 Dec 2000Posts: 28Location: New Jersey Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2000 7:58 pm A really (, really) early concept image for my soon-to-be revamped website at http://www.geocities.com/sheriftariq/index1.html ------------------ Sherif Tariq Member: Neuro Evolutionary Rostral Developers Society (N.E.R.D.S.) [This message has been edited by sheriftariq (edited December 30, 2000).] Back to top PigeonmemberMember #Joined: 28 Jan 2000Posts: 249Location: Chicago Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2000 7:43 pm I just read rule three for the first time, and I have little free time left before the deadline. Here's my hasty showdown: ------------------ -Pigeon http://www.darklight.org/dunakin [This message has been edited by Pigeon (edited December 26, 2000).] Back to top DrorakmemberMember #Joined: 20 Apr 2000Posts: 169 Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2000 11:41 am I just purchased a Wacom Graphire yesterday, and not knowing what to draw with it, I came here to Dhabih's board looking for inspiration. So this is my first drawing ever on a graphic's tablet. Call it the "Karate Kid Showdown". Flexible Elf, that painting of yours is amazing, you should send it to Blizzard, they might want to use it for cover art in the upcoming Warcraft 3. And everyone else's work is really amazing too, especially the ones who said their work wasn't that good. [This message has been edited by Drorak (edited December 27, 2000).] Back to top SlightlyTwistedmemberMember #Joined: 11 Dec 2000Posts: 436Location: Oslo, Norway Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2000 8:10 am Okie dokie, here's my rather late Showdown picture. I started doodling this while talking to Enayla, trying to figure out who really is the Ghost with the Most. Got fed up half way through, and then never really got back into it, and it shows. Back to top SemperememberMember #Joined: 20 Oct 2000Posts: 206Location: Spain Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2000 5:02 pm " Lucha Libre !!! El Espantajo Rabioso contra el Pendejo Asesino !!! " Second month ... Second Post Back to top hennifermemberMember #Joined: 28 Feb 2000Posts: 247Location: toronto, on, ca Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2000 8:48 pm umm.. i did an entry, and its at: http://www.sijun.com/dhabih/ubb/Forum2/HTML/008383.html yeah i know, i'm a bastard for starting a new thread. i'm just posting a link here because i would like it included on the 'draw club' page for november/december. thanks ------------------ jeffery_ Back to top the_monkeymemberMember #Joined: 20 May 2000Posts: 688Location: BC, Canada Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2000 10:49 pm yay i just got it in just in time ------------------ Maho: the online Comic tradgedy is when i cut my finger. comedy is when i fall down a manhole and die. Back to top SPike.CoMmemberMember #Joined: 22 Oct 1999Posts: 194Location: Helsingborg, Sweden Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2000 10:46 am Tis was only four hours left. Happy New Year all! 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The Pusser's Rum Melges East Coast Championships was held over the weekend of the 8/9th November 2014, hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. This is the sixth Melges East Coast Championships to be hosted by the club, a permanent fixture in both the Melges 24 and Melges 32 annual regatta schedule. Pusser's Rum have been watching the growth and culture of the fleets in Australia and have extended their international Melges sponsorship to the Australian classes providing their Blue Label British Navy Rum and Nelsons Blood hip flasks as prizes.
Day one of the Championships was a classic summers days racing on 'shiftwater'. PRO Steve Merrington took advantage of the conditions and ran four races in the afternoon through the Saturday sailing traffic. Lake Macquarie team The Kraken (BER 655 from Toronto Amateur Sailing Club skippered by Aiden Menzies was unlucky not to finish the day leading with two first places on the scoresheet. Sneaking in one point ahead was Stephen Girdis +GST (AUS 762) racing consistently throughout the afternoon, his worse place a third. +GST crewmember youth teams racing sailor Travis Thorn experiencing his first Melges 24 regatta. Since coming third in the Corinthian Division at the Melges 24 Worlds, Geelong in January Peter Kendall Amigos (AUS 816) from the crew has stepped up to helm for the East Coast Champs.
Sunday's racing kicked off earlier and consisted of two races in a twenty knot southerly wind. The Melges boats had Pittwater all to themselves and were revelling in the windy gusts and awesome downwind rides. Amigos started the day with determination and a strong performance, Peters dad Andrew hiking hard in the Southerly wind resulting in a win. Following closely behind in second place, race five was sixteen year old skipper Harley Walters Northshore Marine (AUS 807) whose dad and eleven year old brother were also part of his crew hiking out. For newcomers to the class Dean Pennell Arriba (AUS 215) the learning curve was steep and the crew new to the boat but the fun was fast and furious.
In the spirit of the rum tradition there were some exciting 'hair raising' moments and a tot of Pusser's rum was the call once the boats were tucked up in the dock ready for their next regatta. Victory by one point going to Steve Girdis +GST in a well fought battle, Ayden Menzies The Kraken second overall and Peter Kendall Amigos finishing third. The Melges 24 fleet are packing up and heading to Lake Macquarie Yacht Club to enjoy ideal lake racing conditions for the Pusser's Rum NSW State Titles in a fortnight. Melges 24 Australian Class President and Lake Macquarie local David Young No Comment (AUS 746) will be taking full advantage of his local knowledge for the event and looking for more results like the second place in race four of the East Coast Championships.
Once again the Melges 32 fleet enjoyed exhilarating high speed downwind rides giving passers-by yachts from the regular Saturday fleet a spectacle. Their bows lifting as the crews backed up on the downwind runs launching the boats through the waves in the twenty knot southerly wind on Sunday. The photography boat struggling to keep up. Chris Way Easy Tiger (AUS 221) and Barry Cuneo Envy Scooters (AUS 138) battled it out on the racecourse throughout the six race series. Both crews working on their boat handling and tactics to gain the edge.
In the end it was Chris Way Easy Tigers regatta experience that carried them to victory winning four out of six races, followed two points behind by Envy Scooters and class President Kim Williams Rock n Roll (AUS 320) third overall.
For Barry Cuneo and his crew on Envy Scooters representing Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron this event was an important training regatta in preparation for their Melges 32 World Championship campaign in Miami Florida next month from the 1 -7 December. Barry Cuneo has sponsored four youth sailors from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron to compete in the 2014 Melges 32 Worlds, along with his more experienced crewmembers; Rob Brown, Matt Chew and Ben Lamb. The Pusser's Rum Pittwater Championships hosted by the Royal Motor Yacht Club next weekend will provide another valuable training regatta with on water coaching and debriefs by rules guru David Tallis, between races at the Royal Motor Yacht Club.
Article Written By Tracey Walters
Photos Courtesy of Northshore Marine Photography (Ash Stephens)


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Pog Lake. We didn't make reservations we just showed up in the afternoon to see if there was anything available. Our camper is 36' so our options are limited but they found us a spot. It was very wide open and right beside the water tap and the outhouses so there was a constant stream of people going by. A bit more traffic then we'd prefer but we made it work. Some of the sites overlooking the lake and ponds were truly beautiful but most would only fit a small RV or tents.
Typically we do not camp in parks. We try to find free places on crown land but since we took the camper with friends we decided to give the provincial park a try. I must say although it wasn't as secluded as we like all the girls had an amazing time.
There was a lot of bike riding and borrowing bike pumps from fellow campers. Finally we took it to a bike shop in the park and had a new tube put in...to be followed by...having the bike lying on the ground and getting run over by the truck!
We managed to get the tire straight enough to be able to be used, although awkwardly for the remainder of the camping trip...time for a new bike I guess.
While Sierra rode around the park on her bike with our friends daughter Mattea, Aayla drove Nella around the park in her jeep. They rode around and around and around for hours!
|In the hammock with one of their new friends
We made a giant jenga game a few weeks ago and it was a big hit while camping. People drove by saying, "oh I saw that on pinterest".
While at the park the girls participated in a beach clean up.
It was windy and cold day so after a quick, brief, swim it was back to the campsite...to warm up and...
look for blueberries. Right beside our campsite we had a small patch which the girls enjoyed harvesting. The were small, and scarce but Aayla has been wanting to pick blueberries for awhile so she was very happy..
We attended one of the park presentations about bears at the outdoor theatre.
We forgot to bring our canoe (how did we do that???) so we didn't explore any of the waterways on this trip. I hear there is a lot of excellent paddling throughout the park...maybe next time.
We did get out for a couple little hikes. Sierra, our friend Mattea and I did the Beaver pond trail.
On all the trails there are guests books to sign if you want.
It said the trail was about 2 hours so manageable for these 8 and 9 years old. The trail however is very hilly, many steps and lots of obstacles to cross over so not stroller friendly for younger ones if you have them, but lots of fun for the girls to scamper over and explore.
It doesn't take long before you come to the first pond where you can see a beaver lodge in the distance.
|beaver lodge in the distance
If there are frogs to be found, Sierra will find them.
My eyes are always drawn to the flowers.
|White water lily
|Yellow pond plant
Along the trail there is a huge beaver damn.
My favourite find on this walk though was seeing Pipsissewa or Prince's Pine (Chimaphila Umbellata). I have never seen this before and had to do a bit of research to figure it out. The horrible picture I got of it just does not do it justice. My phone began playing tricks on me and doing weird things to my pictures...really must fix my camera as I get so distraught when my photos get ruined.
The girls favourite thing on this trail was all the rock climbing they got to do.
I can't help but stop and take pictures of mushrooms when I see them and we saw some interesting fungi as well.
Finally we were done our walk and it was time for smores while daddy and Ed made dinner.
Later I took Aayla and Nella on a walk to the Look out. It said it was an hour walk but boy oh boy are there a lot of hills. Their little legs got a work out but they did amazing. My phone camera failed big time on this walk. It began saving photos in low resolution and conjoining three and four pictures together in memory...so sad. I lost soooo many photos on this trail walk but here is what I did get.
Nella and Aayla also found many rocks to climb, jump off of and even take videos of themselves jumping off. These two are such hams together.
I had another new flower discovery on this trail. This picture was saved in such low quality you can barely identify it but I'll share for the memory. It's called shinleaf (Pyrola Eliptica).
Our last exploration in the park was a bug hunt at the visitors centre the morning we had to leave.
All in all I'd say we had a pretty great camping trip!


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Food & Drink
Airbus rolls out new A350 XWB
By CNN Staff • Updated 14th May 2013
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11 Pictures
has showed off its new
, rolling out its first flyable plane on Monday fresh from the paintshop in company livery.
The aircraft is the first in a family of super efficient passenger planes Airbus designed to go head-to-head against rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and 777s.
"XWB" means "extra wide body." There are three members in the A350 family: the A350-800, the A350-900 and the A350-1000, which seat 270, 314 and 350 passengers respectively, in three-class seating.
The largest of the three lightweight carbon-composite aircraft, the A350-1000, is 73.88 meters long and has a range of approximately 8,400 nautical miles, or 15,600 kilometers. The catalog price is US$320.6 million. As of March 31, there were 110 orders for the A350-1000 among a total of 616 orders from 34 customers. Most orders, 414, have been for the A350-900.
The plane unveiled on Monday at Airbus HQ in Toulouse, France is the latest milestone in what has been a turbulent production history for the A350.
Click to expand: A350 v Boeing 787
Critics have said the A350 program -- first launched in 2007 -- was a poorly-designed, hasty response to Boeing's 787.
Dreamliner battery fix: Behind the scenes
"The company, which was hip-deep in sorting out A380 development, simply hadn't foreseen the huge pent-up demand for a more efficient 250-seat airliner, and tried to take the easy way out by offering a re-engined version of its A330," aviation journalist David Kaminski-Morrow, air transport editor of
, told CNN in an
earlier report
Airbus reworked the design, configurations and technology to increase the plane's range and efficiency.
The unveiled plane, which Airbus have tagged "MSN001," will undergo final tests before its maiden flight expected in June.
Airbus said it took less than a week to complete the aircraft painting. Last month, engines were installed, ground vibration tests and flight test instrumentation verification were completed.
Read more: What does the A350 mean for travelers?
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AQ Kafe, the First Swedish Go-To Sandwich Spot and Bakery?
AQ Kafé
1800 Broadway, New York NY 10019 (b/n 58th St. and Central Park South; map); 212-462-0005; aqkafe.com
Service: Prompt at the bakery counter, a little slow but well-meaning at the tables
Setting: Cheerful, airy minimalist Scandinavian Modern-derived storefront
Compare It To: Le Pain Quotidien, Bouchon Bakery, Mangia
Must-Haves: Pretzels, potato salad, Cheese bread, bittersweet chocolate tart
Cost: $15 plus tip and tax for a sandwich, sweet, and coffee
Grade: C
It's hard to believe but true: The area around West 57th Street doesn't have all that many places to get a cup of coffee and a danish at breakfast; soup, salad, or sandwich for lunch; or a much-more-than-edible one-plate supper. There's Le Pain Quotidien, Greek coffee shops, and—if you want to go upscale and super-high quality—there's the sometimes expensive but mostly delicious Bouchon Bakery. Entering this fray is the AQ Kafé, the latest project of celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson (of Aquavit) and his partners.
Did we need a bakery/cafe with a Scandinavian bent? What does that mean exactly? The Serious Eats team went to find out.
At breakfast there's an array of breads and breakfast pastries and sandwiches. The cardamom-infused cinnamon roll ($1.50) is a little dry, but the house-made pretzels ($1.50) were terrific—slightly chewy and crunchy on the outside, and soft and tender on the inside.
A premade egg salad sandwich on seeded wheat bread ($7.50) was enlivened by not enough bacon strips. I also bought a cheese loaf made with priest cheese ($6.95) that was tang, yeasty, and delicious. It's the kind of bread you rip hunks off of all day and before you know it's all gone. An excellent cranberry-hazelnut danish ($2.95) was plenty buttery without being decadent.
Lunch regularly features three soups: a tomato and cheese soup ($4.95/$6.95) that would raise Campbell's game a lot; an inspired Hungarian beef goulash soup ($4.95/$6.95) that unfortunately could have been served at any Greek coffee shop in New York; and a chicken noodle soup ($4.95/$6.95) that was strangely dishwatery bland, which was downright bizarre considering all the fresh herbs floating in it.
I was really looking forward to the Swedish meatball sandwich ($9.95) because Samuelsson had once cooked the best Swedish meatballs I've ever tasted on the old New York Eats television show I co-hosted with Jeffrey Steingarten. Alas, these heavy, dry, meatballs bore no resemblance to those.
Better lunch sandwich options are the aforementioned egg salad sandwich, a straightforward ham, red cabbage, apple, and sauerkraut sandwich ($8.95) and a fine shrimp salad on dill quark bread sandwich ($10.95) featuring tiny succulent shrimp.
The lunch and dinner plates are decidedly a mixed bag. A split roast chicken breast stuffed with sautéed mushrooms ($11.95) had that icky airline reheated-chicken taste.
The bauernwurst ($10.95), rounds of fine emulsified sausage on a bed of sauerkraut served with a mountain of wonderful dill-laced potato salad ($2.25), was much better (just about every sandwich or entreé comes with the potato salad).
Vegetarian meatballs ($10.95) are failures as meatballs (AQ Kafé should change the name of this dish), but moderately successful as balled up vegetarian stuffing.
The smorgasbord plate ($12.95) had all these inappropriately tiny portions of decent herring, shrimp salad, a solitary meatball, and a ping pong ball-sized new potato and a tiny wedge of cheese that both looked lonely and lost on the plate. Come on, Marcus and company—bring on the potatoes!
The one must-have dessert is the bittersweet chocolate tart ($4.95). The dark chocolate crust, some gooey salted caramel, and a fine chocolate ganache join forces to make the ultimate adult candy bar served as a wedge on a plate.
Seasonal-food junkies should happily avail themselves of the moist, not-too-sweet pumpkin gingerbread cake with smooth, light maple mascarpone frosting ($4.95).
If you're looking for a truly Scandinavian dessert you might think about ordering the princess cake ($4.95). That would be a mistake, unless lime green marzipan, dry sponge cake, some nondescript pastry cream, and some raspberry is your idea of a heavenly combo. Authentic, maybe. Delicious? No way, no how.
If you order carefully you can fare reasonably well at AQ Kafé. But proceed with caution, because the menu is loaded with food mine fields. You'll probably fare better at Le Pain Quotidien (which is not particularly great, either) or Bouchon Bakery, which is a far better option in terms of deliciousness percentages.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Smithers Chat
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Maps above: the Sino-Indian border. The disputed areas are shaded maroon. I will be living and working over the coming year near the border town of Tawang.
Above: a lake near Bum La, on the Line of Actual Control, from where Chinese forces outflanked the Tawang defences in 1962.
Right: My wife, Sonia, and I during a recent visit to Khinzemane, at the spot where the Dalai Lama was officially received by India when he fled Tibet in 1959.
Bad news for followers of defence hardware, but good news for the strategists and historians. I am leaving on Tuesday, along with my wife and family, to live in Arunachal Pradesh, for the next one year. We will be studying India's border policy and how it is viewed by the people of the border... we hope there will be a book at the end of this year.
The maps posted above show the areas disputed between India and China... in red shading. The close up of Arunachal gives you an idea of where we will base ourselves: in the Western corner of Arunachal, near the border with Bhutan, is the town of Tawang. We will live in a village called Dirang, which is located in the valley between Se La and Bomdi La. You can see both on the map.
While defence hardware will continue to be discussed on this blog, I will not be visiting any defence R&D and production facilities; I plan to spend my time exclusively in Arunachal Pradesh.
I will post on issues that come up during our research... on life on the China border... on the wonderful Monpa people who inhabit that area... and on other matters that come up on the blog.
Any bloggers passing through Dirang... do drop in.


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Free Movie Organizer 1.9
Free Movie Organizer is an advanced program that allows you to bring order to your collection of movies.
Its explorer-like interface is very intuitive. The program keeps all information about your movies in one place. As you add a movie to your collection, Free Movie Organizer downloads its DVD cover, description, screen shots from the movie, full cast etc. It is possible to assign exact location (customizable) and disc number to every movie and use the data later to find any required movie easily. Loan Manager will help you keep track of loaned movies. You can print nice reports or export the data from your movie collection to MS Excel or HTML.
Free Movie Organizer has an internal video player that supports both video files and DVDs. Movies can also be started using external players, directly from the program.
Powerful search engine will help you find any movie in your collection, or sort your movies by any criteria. The program offers quick search and a number of quick filters that make searching and sorting even more enjoyable. You can manage wish-lists, or choose to show movies from your collection that you haven't watched yet. Most operations require only a couple of clicks.
A unique feature of the program is the connection between movies and persons. You can click any actor in the cast and download his or her complete filmography, biography, interesting facts, photos etc. Then you can click any movie in the filmography and download information about it to decide if you want to watch it someday later. If the description sounds good, just add the movie to your wish list. The program supports several online movie databases.
Free Movie Organizer is an excellent movie cataloger at unbeatable price (free)! Try it out and discover what you are missing about your collection of movies!


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Fairmont Hotels reduces CO2 emissions by 8.4%
As part of its ongoing climate change strategy, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (Fairmont) today announced that it has cut its CO2 output by 8.4 percent. As a member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Climate Savers program, Fairmont has pledged to reduce its operational CO2 emissions by 20 percent below 2006 levels by 2013, and was the world's first luxury hotel group to commit to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The more than 8 percent decline, based on 2010 year-end data, means the hotel company is almost halfway to its ambitious reduction target.
"Everyone can agree that the debate on climate change has shifted from it's here and real, to how can we all contribute to a low carbon future," said Fairmont's president Chris Cahill. "The business community needs to step up and take a leadership position if we're going to affect any real, transformative change, and I'm very pleased that Fairmont has been able to take some positive steps in curbing its energy usage and lowering GHG emissions around the globe. From the daily efforts of our engineers to the determined conservation practices of our hotel-level green teams, we remain committed to persevering and protecting the destinations we call home."
Over the last few years, Fairmont has identified and implemented a number of key initiatives to help reduce its carbon footprint. These have included the creation of an internal framework to track, monitor and report on key energy and carbon data, appointing regional champions to oversee audit and data controls, and the introduction of a new Engineer of the Year award to recognize and reward outstanding environmental performance. Additionally, the brand adopted a formalized sustainable design and construction policy and relocated its corporate offices to a LEED NC Gold-certified building.
On the property front, several Fairmont hotels have also had success with projects aimed at decreasing GHG emissions. At The Fairmont Dubai, the hotel has optimized its temperature control and building humidity settings, resulting in a 17.1 percent reduction in greenhouse gases over the last four years, while Quebec's Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu converted two boilers from oil to electric, helping the hotel cut emissions by more than 75 percent, despite having higher occupancy levels. Over the same time period, the iconic Fairmont San Francisco added occupancy-sensing guestroom thermostats and adjusted its daily HVAC scheduling in meeting rooms to decrease its GHG emissions by 12.1 percent.
In London, the restoration of The Savoy included the addition of several new environmental technologies including a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant that reduces the hotel's reliance on the national grid by approximately 50 percent. New energy efficient boilers, smart meters, and a waste management system that recycles up to 90 percent of the property's waste and converts it into an energy source, have also been introduced making it one of the greenest hotels in London.
WWF's VP of Strategic Partnerships Hadley Archer commends Fairmont for its ambitious carbon reduction targets. "As a member in WWF's global 'Climate Savers' program, Fairmont is advancing carbon management within its industry by committing to absolute emission reduction targets and demonstrating that cutting carbon yields a host of benefits – from cost savings to employee engagement and reputational benefits."
Added Sarah Dayboll, Fairmont's Director of Environmental Affairs, "Looking ahead, we're confident that we can reach our 20 percent reduction target in 2013 by continuing to focus our efforts on improved energy efficiency, increased conversion to low carbon technologies and solutions, and by promoting conservation practices among our 30,000 colleagues worldwide."
For more than 20 years, Fairmont's Green Partnership has been the company's award-winning environmental program focused on minimizing the impact of hotel operations on the environment. In addition to publishing "The Green Partnership Guide", a "going green" handbook used by its hotels and others in the hospitality industry, initiatives include recycling and organic waste diversion in hotel kitchens, purchasing sustainable seafood, a green conferencing solution dubbed Eco-Meet, creating rooftop herb gardens at properties, and redistributing gently used goods and food to those in need.
To access all the latest information about the world's major hotel companies via one mobile platform visit hotel.city.mobi/.


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VIDEO DOWNLOAD - The Kevin Steen Show with Eddie Edwards
The Kevin Steen Show is back and so is the Kane mask. Kevin sits down with ROH Superstar & Monster Energy drink fanatic, Eddie Edwards.
This episode of The Kevin Steen Show was filmed right before Eddie got on a plane for a tour of Mexico. We felt like it would be a good idea to get him on camera before we left just in case he got kidnapped by the drug cartel in Mexico.
Luckily Eddie made it back home safely. So, in this non-memorial edition of The Kevin Steen Show Eddie talks about his life as a fat kid, his sweet dreads, being a young boy for Pro Wrestling NOAH and how hard it really is to catch a flight after drinking all night. Also, did we mention that we talked about Eddie's sweet dreads? Well, sit back pop open a Monster Energy Drink or beer and enjoy The Kevin Steen Show with Eddie Edwards.
Approx. Running Time: 2 hours 17 mins
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Dec. 20, 2000
Lawrence J. Goodrich, Communications Director, (202) 523-3240
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom wrote the President, Secretary of State, and congressional leaders December 18 with recommendations for promoting religious freedom in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). The Commission wrote that "U.S. policy ... should reflect America's concern for religious freedom in a country ruled by one of the world's worst violators of religious freedom."
"In the DPRK ... it is apparent that religious freedom is non-existent," the Commission said. "The government has imprisoned religious believers and apparently suppresses all organized religious activity except that which serves the interest of the state." The Commission noted reports of torture and execution of religious believers, including between 12 and 23 Christians on account of their religion.
The past year has seen significant developments in U.S.-North Korean relations, including Secretary of State Albright's historic visit and the possibility that President Clinton may yet travel there. But U.S. policy has thus far focused primarily on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile technology, and on peace on the Korean Peninsula. The Commission urged that the U.S. also place "significant emphasis" on religious freedom in North Korea and recommended that the U.S.:
Insist that the DPRK publicly reaffirm its commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
Press the DPRK to immediately establish conditions whereby the status of religious freedom can be assessed and progress monitored;
Ensure that any peace treaty between the parties to the Korean war include provisions on religious freedom and non-discrimination;
Make it clear that substantial improvement in religious freedom and other human rights in North Korea is a prerequisite for normalization of relations and the relaxation of U.S. sanctions;
Insist that any U.S. diplomats stationed in North Korea in the future have reasonable access within the country to assess the state of religious freedom and monitor developments, and that a religious-freedom dialogue begin at the highest policymaking levels;
Raise the issue of religious freedom in all high-level diplomatic exchanges with North Korea;
Urge the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Japan to press human rights and religious freedom in their talks with North Korea as well.
The full text of the Commission's letter is available on the Commission's Web site, www.uscirf.gov. It can also be obtained by calling (202) 523-3240, ext. 34.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress." src="https://www.uscirf.org/images/layout/subbottomtext1.gif" />
Hon. Elliott Abrams,Chair


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Children of Gaia
Earpieces in 925 silver with rough Lemon Quartz.
Please note that every stone is unique and hand selected. A slight variation in shape, colour and size will occur.
How to take care of your jewellery
|about 9 cm
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UT Arlington marketing study shows ethnically diverse workforce may improve customer experience
Future of business depends on increasing diversity
Service-oriented businesses that want to succeed with minority customers should consider hiring frontline employees who represent those ethnic groups, particularly when the business caters to Hispanics or Asians, a recent UT Arlington study contends.
The paper, "Shared ethnicity effects on service encounters: A study across three U.S. subcultures," was authored by Elten Briggs, associate professor of marketing, and Detra Montoya, clinical associate professor of marketing at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business. It was published in the Journal of Business Research.
The researchers analyzed the influence of shared ethnicity on consumer behavior using an experiment and a survey. The experiment focused on 112 Hispanic customers of a financial services firm in a major U.S. metropolitan area. The survey asked 285 Asians, Hispanics and Caucasians in a major U.S. city about marketplace experiences that could be attributed to their ethnicity.
The team said that members of Asian and Hispanic cultures are more "collectivist" in the way that they emphasize the social self and connectedness to others than members of Western cultures. For this reason, they may be more susceptible to the effects of shared ethnicity in the marketplace.
"The study showed that culture plays an important role in the interaction between businesses and customers," said Briggs, who joined the UT Arlington in 2006. "Customers may feel like they have some common ground with the service representative or sales person if there is a shared ethnicity."
The influence of culture on interactions between contact employees and customers is becoming an ever-important consideration as marketplaces worldwide continue to diversify. Though recent research emphasizes the drawbacks of individual cultural differences, such as marketplace discrimination (Baker et al., 2008, Crockett et al., 2003 and Harris et al., 2005), this research largely overlooks potentially positive effects of congruency between contact employees and customers of services.
Rachel Croson, dean of the UT Arlington College of Business, said Briggs' research points to the fact that the future of business is multi-cultural.
"The future of business will involve an increasing diversity of the customer base of many firms, both within the U.S. and internationally. The businesses that succeed will be those that understand how to customize the experience they give these customers," Croson said. "Dr. Briggs' work identifies how to do this effectively, and will have important implications for both the practice and theory of marketing."
Briggs said he hopes his research will help businesses improve marketing outreach.
"The study shows that if I work for a service or sales company, my company should reflect the audience I am seeking," Briggs said. "When customers share the same ethnicity with their salesman or customer service agent, they generally have a more favorable perception of the business."
Briggs noted that with Asian and Hispanic customers, the relationship between customers and agents was even tighter because they often were linked through a common language.
The experiment demonstrated that expectations among Hispanic customers increased when they thought their customer service or sales representative would be of the same ethnicity, which increases the chances of the customer patronizing the business.
Hispanic and Asian survey respondents reported having better retail and service experiences with employees of the same ethnicity, often perceiving that they were receiving preferential treatment from the employee.
The University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive research institution of more than 33,300 students and more than 2,200 faculty members in the epicenter of North Texas. Visit www.uta.edu for more information.
Herb Booth, firstname.lastname@example.com, 817-272-7075
The University of Texas at Arlington, www.uta.edu


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The Imitation of Christ
The Apostle Paul's teaching on our sanctification is ultimately a call to the imitation of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). Therefore, we should pay close attention to the words and actions of Jesus if we want to understand what a life ...Read More
Gift-giver and Protector
"The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still" is the cry of the believer's confidence in the protecting work of Christ. We may suffer in this world, but in Jesus we are kept from everlasting destruction. We, therefore, will ...Read More
Raised Up to New Life
John Calvin comments on today's passage: "No one can rise again with Christ, if he has not first died with him." If we would enjoy the new life that fuels our sanctification and grants us imperishable bodies, we must die ...Read More
Dead and Buried with Christ
Our old Adamic nature has been mortally wounded, but it refuses to stay buried. Having a new nature in Christ, we must put sin to death when it rises up. This means that we must resist temptation and repent when ...Read More
Reigning with Christ
The truth that we are kings and queens in Christ is not some idea conjured up to boost our self-esteem but a present reality that we will enjoy in its fullness at the resurrection of the dead. At that point, ...Read More
Patience in Trials
When we are suffering, we are often strongly tempted not to praise God. Matthew Henry notes that Job adored the Lord when he was blessed and when he suffered. "When all was gone he fell down and worshipped… . Weeping ...Read More
God our Father
The comfort of the gospel is not in that we are born children of God but in that God, seeing that all people are children of the Devil, nevertheless chooses to adopt a portion of humanity as His children in ...Read More
Turning Adversity to Good
Dr. R.C. Sproul comments on the origin of evil and what Scripture has to say about it: "How sin got here we do not know, but it is here. The good news of Scripture is that there is redemption ...Read More
The Gifts God Gives
James focuses here on one excuse we may use to rationalize our sin. We are not only practiced sinners but practiced rationalizers. We do not hesitate to blame our environment or genetics or the sovereignty of God. Some even claim, ...Read More
Shepherd and Overseer
We should never think that our problems and concerns are too insignificant for Christ to address. There is a sense, of course, in which we should have some perspective about what we face each day. Nevertheless, Christ is concerned with ...Read More